TxDOT plans to advance 249 corridor

Updated 4:33 pm, Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Texas Department of Transportation has announced plans to coordinate with the 249 Partnership for the eventual expansion of Texas 249 from FM 1774 in Montgomery County to Texas 6 in Navasota.

Russell Zapalac, TxDOT chief planning and project officer in Austin, said state officials noted the success of the 249 Partnership with the recent announcement by Harris County and the Harris County Toll Road Authority of the Phase I construction of the Tomball Tollway, between Spring-Cypress Road and Business 249 to the Tomball city limits.

"We've decided to advance the corridor," Zapalac said. "The 249 project is a great project and we certainly consider it one of our strategic projects, and we want to invest our limited funds."

Zapalac said TxDOT would begin assembling a team to conduct environmental impact studies in Montgomery and Grimes counties, which more than likely will not be completed until 2018 or 2019.

"We are looking for projects that improve safety, reduce congestion, improve communities and promote economic development," Zapalac said. "The 249 project has all of this."

Harris County and HCTRA are in the process of surveying Phase I of the project and are set to begin construction this year.

"I was told when I got to be the commissioner of Precinct 4 that 249 would never happen," said Harris County Commissioner Jack Cagle. "Not only is it going to happen, but it is going to happen sooner than we thought."

Meanwhile, Phase II, which is envisioned to extend the Tomball Tollway from south of Tomball to FM 1774 and Texas 149 in Montgomery County is still being studied.

The partnership, which was formed in January 2012 to give voice to economic development and mobility issues, has been working over the past year to expand the corridor from the present ending at FM 1774 into the cities of Navasota, College Station and ultimately Waco.

"We have had a lot of tremendous progress on this project very, very quickly," said Montgomery County Commissioner Craig Doyal. "Here in Montgomery County, we are working on putting together some of the preliminary work for our segment."

Like Harris County, Montgomery County is working with HCTRA on the Phase II planning, which at this time includes a traffic and revenue study as well as the viability of the project.

Doyal said as soon as those studies are completed, Montgomery County will sell bonds to fund the project.

"Both counties have recognized the need for this project," Doyal said.

While counties have focused on the mobility aspect, communities are looking at the eventual expansion of Texas 249 from the economic development perspective.

"There is a lot of overlap," Violette said. "This really improves our competitiveness and allows us to work together … and connect our resources, such as Texas A&M University to the Lone Star College System and University Park, which has a strong logistics program, to the Port of Houston."

Tomball and Navasota have begun to see substantial growth in the retail and manufacturing sectors of their economies. In 2012, the Tomball EDC purchased the land needed to construct a business park, and in October, the Tomball City Council began the annexation process of 100 acres purchased by the Baker-Hughes Corp. to construct the Western Hemisphere Education Center.

While Tomball and Navasota are the bookends to the 249 Partnership that have seen substantial growth, the center of it all is Magnolia, Tomball's neighbor to the north.

Unlike Navasota and Tomball, Magnolia has not seen the massive mobility improvements in its city just yet, but officials are beginning to brace for changes.

"For us it's been rooftops," Miller said. "We didn't get the businesses that Navasota and Tomball have seen."

Magnolia, which has a population of about 1,100 residents, actually has 138,000 residents living in the surrounding area, and most of them use FM 1774 to travel into Houston for work, Miller said.

Roughly 46 percent of those residents work in the Houston area, Miller added.

Magnolia has been expanding the limits of its extraterritorial jurisdiction around FM 1488 and along FM 1774, as well as creating a comprehensive plan for the city.

Miller said with the eventual expansion of Texas 249, the city hopes to attract more businesses and that many of those who leave Magnolia to commute, will be able to stay closer to home for work.

Miller said while Magnolia is optimistic about the economic development that is likely as a result of the planned expansion of Texas 249, city leaders don't want to see that small town charm associated with Magnolia fade away.

"We don't want to become another FM 1960," Miller said.

"We want to plan so that these roads preserve our surroundings and our charm. There is a reason people moved out here in the first place."